Rob Kearney will make his 46th Guinness Six Nations appearance as one of five Ireland changes made by Joe Schmidt to face Scotland in round two.
Four of those alterations are injury-enforced as full-back Kearney comes in for Robbie Henshaw, Chris Farrell starts at outside centre in place of Garry Ringrose, Quinn Roux fills in at lock for Devin Toner and CJ Stander is replaced at No.8 by Jack Conan.
Conan will make just his second start in the Guinness Six Nations and is joined in the back row by the fifth and final change – Sean O’Brien coming in at flanker for Josh van der Flier, who drops into the replacements.
Farrell’s only previous Championship appearance came against Wales last year, while towering lock Roux – who was not even in Schmidt’s initial 38-man selection last month until injuries to Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne and now Toner opened the door – will start for the first time in the Guinness Six Nations.
Kearney brings plenty of experience to the No.15 jersey, having already made 87 appearances for Ireland, while O’Brien also has almost 60 caps of international experience.
Coach Joe Schmidt will be looking for his side to bounce back from a physical 32-20 home defeat to England in round one as they head to current Guinness Six Nations table-toppers Scotland – who haven’t lost a home Championship match since February 2016.
Ireland team (v Scotland, 2019 Guinness Six Nations, BT Murrayfield, Saturday, February 9, kick-off 2:15pm):
15. Rob Kearney (Leinster) 14. Keith Earls (Munster) 13. Chris Farrell (Munster) 12. Bundee Aki (Connacht) 11. Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster) 9. Conor Murray (Munster)
1. Cian Healy (Leinster) 2. Rory Best (Ulster) 3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster) 4. James Ryan (Leinster) 5. Quinn Roux (Connacht) 6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster) 7. Sean O’Brien (Leinster) 8. Jack Conan (Leinster)
Replacements: 16. Sean Cronin (Leinster) 17. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster) 18. Andrew Porter (Leinster) 19. Ultan Dillane (Connacht) 20. Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 21. John Cooney (Ulster) 22. Joey Carbery (Munster) 23. Jordan Larmour (Leinster)
